Ditching Membership
He spoke wisely who said, “When you come upon a fence, be sure you know what it was keeping out before you tear it down.” The contemporary church, looking down its collective nose at the historical church has jettisoned anything that might make anyone uncomfortable, including accountability. Churches that reject the idea of membership are led by hirelings, more than willing to receive donations but unwilling to take on spiritual responsibility. What responsibility you ask? For the souls of those under their care. Hebrews 13:17 is the definitive text on the necessity and meaning of church membership. There we read,
“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”
Giving Account
Who are those who rule over you, to whom you are called to be submissive? Who is called to watch out for your soul, as those who must give account? What are their names? Email addresses? If you can’t answer these questions, you can’t be in submission to this text. Which means in turn that a failure to be in submission to specific, namable men with genuine authority over you is a failure to be in submission to the Word of God.
But…
I know it’s scary. Believe you me I’ve had my fair share of tussles will elders who will on the last day have much to answer for. Even closer to home, I’ve been an elder who will on the last day have much to answer for. It’s scary to publicly place yourself under authority. What should scare all of us, however, even more is the idea of being out from under authority. We are sheep, in need of shepherds. Real, here on earth, know our name shepherds. Church membership isn’t about a list of duties in some overly complicated covenant. It isn’t about gaining the power to vote. It isn’t about a deeper subjective sense of belonging. It’s about accountability.
You Can Go Your Own Way
You are reading a blog. You can leave rcsprouljr.com at will. You can disagree, disregard, disrespect every word I’ve written. I don’t know you, and even if I did, my authority over you is non-existent. You have no duty to agree, to give attention or honor to any word I’ve ever written. In God’s grace He has given us all manner of resources by which we might learn more about Him. But He has given us only one institution that we are all called to be in submission to. And not in an invisible, abstract way, but in a person to person way.
If you find yourself bristling I have good news and bad news. The good news is noted above- I have zero authority over you. The bad news is that the Word of God does. See you if you can come up with a way you can fulfill this command in Hebrews without being a publicly committed member of a local visible church. If you can do so, let me know, and I will repent for giving bad counsel.
This definitely goes too far. Yes we are under authority, but there is nothing Biblical about the modern concept of church membership. It also wasn’t a concept in the early church, getting its start in the 1600s. When I attend a church (as I’m doing now and have been for a long long time) I automatically put myself under the limited authority of the elders. They can discipline me if they choose. I tithe, I attend, I fellowship, I clean the church when the rotation gets to me, I’m in the directory. We’re called to those first things in Hebrews (submit, tithe, not forsake the fellowship), not join a club or put ourselves under a covenant that has no scriptural basis, or join a softball team. This is just one of those modern inventions that make things convenient, until they’re abused.
Interesting Lance. I don’t believe I said the first word about a softball team, or joining a club. All I asked is that we all be under the authority of name-able elders. If your attendance means to the elders and you that you have publicly committed to be under that authority that we are not in the least bit in disagreement, and so I can’t see how I’ve “gone too far.” If your attendance doesn’t mean that, well, how will you deal with the text?
My attendance does mean that to me, and I can only assume to the elders. Since there has been no reason for discipline I guess we can’t be sure on that, but I have had this conversation with the pastor. If you don’t think you have to have an “official” membership then you should differentiate that in your post. Most churches today have official membership that they expect people to take them up on. My church does, I just don’t take that step. It’s related to softball team or club in that it isn’t a requirement from God, it’s an extra-biblical requirement that in my opinion binds men beyond what is biblically allowed.
What makes something official is the public recognition of the authority by both sides, not club, softball, directory or covenant. Which was the point I was making.
Everyone should be a member of a church. We need to establish the authority in context with the whole teaching. It comes down to this. We communicate in the entire context of scripture.Its like people using the verse Wives submit to your husbands. Some people invited to do something with the threat of punishment is not the context of “submit”. The bible also teaches we submit to one another. This is why we are always wrestling with finding the appropriate balance of sacred scripture. Because a local context genuinely seems to invite a leaders- pupil relationship is not an invitation control that private person. We genuinely need to stand back and carefully look when we are teaching about how to intimately relate in the social context of a body of fervent believers. This is why strike the proper balance in sacred scripture typically commanding every specific occupation. Masters- slaves, teachers – students, parents- children. This is why the bible speaks of position in relationships. Both sides should be carefully examined in the relationship.The gospel is very simple and very complicated. We learn the ethical complexity to adequately protect the childlike simplicity.The more we diligently investigate the safer we are. In the entirety of sacred scripture, we carefully investigate and properly communicate in social relationships. We don’t make demands nor swift judgements. In this scarce time in church history, the typical family has taken a back seat to the biblical mandates. After a few modern generations of this social chaos, we naturally have a declined in relating to familiar people.A child is faithfully attending to church 4 hours a week but is brainwashed 30 hours a week in modern secularism. We must all be unified first to positively relate graciously according to the commands. We cannot conveniently ignore the creation mandates and reasonably expect rational relationships. Its like being all visible bones with no flesh. We carefully need balancing this teaching because the bible commands all occupations. The bible commands relationships in various texts of sacred scripture that sufficiently establishes it in context of the scripture we are teaching.
There are two sides of practice in counseling of the church.One side teaches that all behavior issues are doing to sin. The other side teaches social problems can naturally come from from a persons brain function. Many local churches are so rigid they indeed compound the problem in the persons life. The best pastor in my life earned a psychology decree.The kind of appropriate counseling is undoubtedly the life of the church. If we fail in assisting people get better the preaching has little effect. I am very spoiled because I’ve had some very good pastors in Orlando. Being an old man, my family has been involved in non-profit relationships. Christianity is developing relationships with people.